Broken spurs??

[Grant vg]

just wondering if anyone's experienced broken spurs with any of there male breeders?
I was cleaning cages today, and noticed my male blood python whos been breeding a few females has half spurs...

gvg

[Dom]

Might it be a male with a very recent shed or is it really a broken spur..

If ever u catch a large snake (mine was a burm but I am sure it would be simillar in a blood) in a shed . Take his spur in your fingers and pull on them to remove the top layer..

The are considerably smaller and a whitetish unhardenned color..

I doubt this is what u mena but I though I would give it a shot

Tkae care master Grant

[Grant vg]

Ahhh Grasshopper, ......many of moons ago, i had told you to get sleep before replying to posts with bad spelling at 3 in the morning...lol...

No, its definately only half there. i see a tip and its as if u cut a banana in half if u can picture that, only replace it with a spur...lol

im not sure what u mean by taking the spur and pulling the top layer off, maybe u'd care to elaborate on that one.
I would be honoured , sen-se.

gvg

[Dom]

Sorry about the spelling - I am still half asleep! Maybe I should start construction at 3 am .. hmm I wonder if the neighbours would like it lol

Anyway..

After a shed, or even during the shed cycle, the snake looses its full outter epedermis layer right .. including the rattle on a rattle snake or the outter layer of the spurs on a large boid. I mean, venemous snakes even shed there fangs so I don't think shedding there spurs is that far fetched..

I dunno how else to explain it to you my young Jedi.



Let me try again..

Snakes loose their outter superficial cells in order to renew their skin.. In the shed process the intermediate epidermal zone is full of blood vessels and is seperated by the epidermal zone by a small layer of O2. During this process, the deeper layer keratanizes.. and the sloth comes off..

Now I imagine, this would be a simillar process for the spurs .. I see no reason is to why it would not be..

I hope I make sense!

Take care bro

[Corey Woods]

Grant,

This is normal and nothing to worry about. Sometimes they break off. The spurs are their softest when the snake sheds and if you pinch the nail of the spur you can actually pop it off (and sometimes it doesn't take much to do that).

Corey

[tightsqueeze]

does it hurt them when there spurs get broken? is it like a broken finger on us?

jay

[Corey Woods]

It doesn't appear to hurt the snake........although, they don't really like it when it happens..........it probably doesn't hurt as their is no blood......it probably just feels weird.

Corey